resurrection mojo going on. Someone call in the Dominions to hunt these freaks of nature down.
Actually if these resurrections are tied to the Sept-Terrions, or the Great Power, then what does that mean for the blessings that Aidios gave and the church's stance on things? Drama!!
What did you folks here who played Ys VIII think of the story in comparison to Trails? I know impressions were pretty positive on it in the important thread, but I'm curious how you'd rate it compared to Trails specifically, since the series constitutes 95% of what I've played by Falcom so far. (I played a little bit of Celceta and wasn't really grabbed.)
I haven't finished it. Everyone I personally know who played Ys VIII thought it's a much better videogame than Cold Steel II, story, character, everything. But than again, they all HATE Cold Steel II.
I haven't finished it. Everyone I personally know who played Ys VIII thought it's a much better videogame than Cold Steel II, story, character, everything. But than again, they all HATE Cold Steel II.
Incorrect. The writer behind Gagharv's scenario, Tadashi Hayakawa, has long since left Falcom, and Cagesong of the Sea was finished by other writers (including a younger Hisayoshi Takeiri, the Trails scenarist/writing lead) based on Hayakawa's work/foundation. Falcom developers are big fans of previous Legend of Heroes games, so borrowing Gagharv twists/tropes for Kiseki games is nothing new,
though I'm not sure how much Crow has in common with Mile
. References to
Tear of Vermilion
have gotten really common in the Sen ard for some reason.
Incorrect. The writer behind Gagharv's scenario, Tadashi Hayakawa, has long since left Falcom, and Cagesong of the Sea was finished by other writers (including a younger Hisayoshi Takeiri, the Trails scenarist/writing lead) based on Hayakawa's work/foundation. Falcom developers are big fans of previous Legend of Heroes games, so borrowing Gagharv twists/tropes for Kiseki games is nothing new,
though I'm not sure how much Crow has in common with Mile
. References to
Tear of Vermilion
have gotten really common in the Sen ard for some reason.
Mile die and was resurrected in the same scene, or rather the ending? I wouldn't really count it as a cop-out resurrection especially because since it takes place in the same game anyway. I don't even remember him getting a grandiose death scene or anything like that.
I doubt anyone (Trails spoilers)
resurrected in CS3 will stay alive, it bet it something similar to The 3rd with Loewe.
Disparaging jokes aside, CS2 is probably the funnest kiseki from a gameplay standpoint (from the one's I've played, anyway). The battle system loop is actually fun, the bike makes traversing the overworld a dream, the courageous in its entirety is God Tier, character building (ie: making everyone as broken as possible) is addictive and satisfying, SPIRIT UNIFICATION and Divine Knight battles, and the sidequests are the best. Any misgivings I have about the overall narrative are mitigated greatly by the gameplay itself.
Mile die and was resurrected in the same scene, or rather the ending? I wouldn't really count it as a cop-out resurrection especially because since it takes place in the same game anyway. I don't even remember him getting a grandiose death scene or anything like that.
The most recent updates that I just installed a few minutes ago for SC killed the game. I can load the config menu, but the game itself just fails to load without so much as an error message. Just says *running* on Steam and then it stops. FC is doing it too by the looks of it.
The most recent updates that I just installed a few minutes ago for SC killed the game. I can load the config menu, but the game itself just fails to load without so much as an error message. Just says *running* on Steam and then it stops. FC is doing it too by the looks of it.
All three games run the same as they always have on my desktop when running the older, DX8 versions (but with Turbo). The DX9 betas, however, are a different story: SC and 3rd boot but once in-game they lag severely, and FC doesn't run at all (it does as you said, the process just dies before doing anything). The config settings are identical between every version.
welp, it's not called "being in beta" for nothing. But... are you saying that the old versions won't run for you either?
All three games run the same as they always have on my desktop when running the older, DX8 versions (but with Turbo). The DX9 betas, however, are a different story: SC and 3rd boot but once in-game they lag severely, and FC doesn't run at all (it does as you said, the process just dies before doing anything). The config settings are identical between every version.
welp, it's not called "being in beta" for nothing. But... are you saying that the old versions won't run for you either?
Nothing from the original trilogy boots, not even a crash dialog box. Except for the config. It was all working just yesterday too. It says "running" for about two seconds and then just stops without a word.
"The visual effect of Rean using his 'ogre' power (hair turning silver and eyes turning red) are identical to what happened to Mile when he was resurrected as one of Octum's Apostles in Akai Shizuku and both characters have to fight to maintain or regain control of themselves when in this state."
"identical to what happened to Mile when he was resurrected"
"when he was resurrected"
"was resurrected"
"resurrected"
YFW
CS3 reveals that Orge Rean happens because he was resurrected
Some kind of display adaptor issue, something not parsing correctly...makes my non-programmer brain hurt, haha. Basically the game isn't detecting something correctly. Beats me why it started over night like this, but I didn't ask because there's no way I'm qualified to follow the answer, haha. But she's working on it.
"The visual effect of Rean using his 'ogre' power (hair turning silver and eyes turning red) are identical to what happened to Mile when he was resurrected as one of Octum's Apostles in Akai Shizuku and both characters have to fight to maintain or regain control of themselves when in this state."
"identical to what happened to Mile when he was resurrected"
"when he was resurrected"
"was resurrected"
"resurrected"
YFW
CS3 reveals that Orge Rean happens because he was resurrected
Like a number of things in that list, this feels like a coincidence.
Miles' hair is silver to make him a mysterious character the party hears about, but hasn't met yet. Red eyes is just a tropey means of showing that he was being controlled by someone else. There are similarities, but I think for Rean it's just a coincidence. It makes sense that they would depict Rean's transformation in the way that they did.
I'm not too worried by these CS3 previews and what Falcom chooses to communicate on this early.
(Scan/preview related so CS2 spoilers obviously)
My takeaway here, more than "oh no, another cheap resurrection" is that Vita and her 2 buddies are operating independently. I've grown to like the character and it's nice to see her not being 100% aligned with the Society, like Sharon I guess. With Osborne and Ouroboros both vying for the title of asshole of the year, it's good to see all these other groups that might mess up all their well oiled plans within plans.
As for Crow, I assume the fact he's alive (if he is) is the least interesting part of the story.
I'm trusting Falcom to do something great if they are bringing him back. I personally liked his arc through both games and his death scene followed by that ending song made am impact on me. I wasn't expecting that.
It's a matter of preference, I'm more intested right now in
Arianrhod, what exactly happened 200 years ago and how that is related to the Phantasmal Blaze.
I'm trusting Falcom to do something great if they are bringing him back. I personally liked his arc through both games and his death scene followed by that ending song made am impact on me. I wasn't expecting that.
It's a matter of preference, I'm more intested right now in
Arianrhod, what exactly happened 200 years ago and how that is related to the Phantasmal Blaze.
I saw that one coming from a mile away. (CS2 spoilers)
He took it like a champ, which made me happy instead of sad. Now the scene after that was shocking. Osborne knew what would happen, the bastard. Then Rean got dealt the shitty card.
As things currently stand, there's a good chance (SC spoiler)
Loewe returns:
- The previously leaked 'Black Alberich' is nowhere to be found among the others;
- Kondo teases that there will be other characters with 'coloured' names like Azure Siegfried and Red Roselia [such as Black Alberich];
- Kondo teases that these might include characters from previous instalments;
- Kondo specifies these characters 'aren't supposed to exist' (read: they should be dead), yet here they are;
- Loewe already served the role as ('Black Knight') in Phantasma;
- Loewe's Reverie Dragion was black.
- Loewe is dead.
I saw that one coming from a mile away. (CS2 spoilers)
He took it like a champ, which made me happy instead of sad. Now the scene after that was shocking. Osborne knew what would happen, the bastard. Then Rean got dealt the shitty card.
Doesn't change the fact that I really liked how it played out. That and Osborne appearing out of nowhere plus the song that followed was what elevated the moment for me.
Before that, I liked Crow, but I felt that if he was going to die before the end of the game, my reaction would be like: "well, bad luck, he went against a crazy opponent and lost". After his final moments, however, I come to appreciate his character more. That was what caused me impact.
As things currently stand, there's a good chance (SC spoiler)
Loewe returns:
- The previously leaked 'Black Alberich' is nowhere to be found among the others;
- Kondo teases that there will be other characters with 'coloured' names like Azure Siegfried and Red Roselia [such as Black Alberich];
- Kondo teases that these might include characters from previous instalments;
- Kondo specifies these characters 'aren't supposed to exist' (read: they should be dead), yet here they are;
- Loewe already served the role as ('Black Knight') in Phantasma;
- Loewe's Reverie Dragion was black.
- Loewe is dead.
What did you folks here who played Ys VIII think of the story in comparison to Trails? I know impressions were pretty positive on it in the important thread, but I'm curious how you'd rate it compared to Trails specifically, since the series constitutes 95% of what I've played by Falcom so far. (I played a little bit of Celceta and wasn't really grabbed.)
It takes even longer to truly pick up than even most Trails games, but when it gets going, it goes crazy places. I'd easily call it the best Ys story, even if I think Origin has stronger dialogue writing. I don't think it's quite up to the level of a Trails game until it really gets going, but the climax is so strong that it alone elevates the game a lot for me.
God damn Randy, was not expecting him to go berserk near the end of the race there. It's all fun and games until you piss off a sleeping monster. Loved the race event, though. Estelle's as energetic as ever, too. People just can't stay mad at her for long. Pretty excited to learn about Randy when the time comes.
Having a blast with Zero so far, though the frequent updating of the NPC dialogue in the city and outside is starting to wear me down. Feels like most of my logged hours are just running around talking than actual story development/combat. My biggest criticism at this point is that the game's clearly falling into the trap where any kind of (important character-arc related) bonding moment exists only between MC and character X. When a character's feeling down, only the MC is allowed to give some enlightening speech that another character could have given in his place, but it just has to be the MC. The worst part is the MC acting like an adult beyond his years doesn't really make sense given their ages are pretty similar (with Randy being the oldest). This is what I hated the most about Rean and I guess Lloyd was where it all started.
Will never understand why Japanese writers can't see that this writing really sucks and isn't fun to read/watch. But to be fair, I suppose Lloyd's the only one in the group that's in the position to hear out what the others have to say given their unique circumstances, but that in itself isn't all that interesting, either.
God damn Randy, was not expecting him to go berserk near the end of the race there. It's all fun and games until you piss off a sleeping monster. Loved the race event, though. Estelle's as energetic as ever, too. People just can't stay mad at her for long. Pretty excited to learn about Randy when the time comes.
Having a blast with Zero so far, though the frequent updating of the NPC dialogue in the city and outside is starting to wear me down. Feels like most of my logged hours are just running around talking than actual story development/combat. My biggest criticism at this point is that the game's clearly falling into the trap where any kind of (important character-arc related) bonding moment exists only between MC and character X. When a character's feeling down, only the MC is allowed to give some enlightening speech that another character could have given in his place, but it just has to be the MC. The worst part is the MC acting like an adult beyond his years doesn't really make sense given their ages are pretty similar (with Randy being the oldest). This is what I hated the most about Rean and I guess Lloyd was where it all started.
Will never understand why Japanese writers can't see that this writing really sucks and isn't fun to read/watch. But to be fair, I suppose Lloyd's the only one in the group that's in the position to hear out what the others have to say given their unique circumstances, but that in itself isn't all that interesting, either.
For the npc, are you playing the english leaked translation? I wouldn't recommend talking to every npc if that's the case, specially if that's hurting your enjoyment of the game.
In my case, at a certain point I started to only talk to certain Npcs that I liked and that's about it.
(Zero spoilers until that point)
I think you are being a bit too hard on Loyd, but I know where you're coming from. I definitely had Rean flashbacks when he was talking with Elie alone in chapter 2, but I felt his talk with Randy after the race in chapter 3 was one of the best moments in Zero and felt genuine.
If anything, I felt Randy was the pillar of the SSS during Zero and not Loyd. I can see that Rean's character was born from Loyd, but give him more credit. I think he was just Ok during the first half but he started to grow on me towards the end. I think he has great moments in Ao too, but that's all I can say without going into spoilers.
As for "great bonding moments only happens when Lloyd is alone and with someone else" I felt that changes as you progress through the game.
From my point of view, the SSS during the first half of the game are getting to know each other, and there's no unnecesary big non-expected events that change their relationship.
I felt it happens gradually in a more realistic way, or at least that's how I felt after playing so many jrpgs where sudden revelations have to happen to change the party dinamyc until that point.
For the npc, are you playing the english leaked translation? I wouldn't recommend talking to every npc if that's the case, specially if that's hurting your enjoyment of the game.
In my case, at a certain point I started to only talk to certain Npcs that I liked and that's about it.
I'm playing in Japanese. Still pretty tiring either way, haha. If Crossbell is available in CS3 along with all of Erebonia, I may have to jump off a building. Oh god. Seriously, if the final game of this entire series makes the entire content visitable, that will be absolute insanity.
I thought the Lloyd and Randy bonding scene after the race was pretty good, actually. It made sense given what we know of these two characters so far: Lloyd having an older brother and Randy acting like the older brother figure in the group. And based on what's been revealed so far of Randy, I think it's pretty clear he's going to be the guy who carries his group through the situations where the stakes are high. Randy's just straight up cool so far, and I'm excited to learn more about him.
I don't have anything against Lloyd, though; I just don't like how the writing is framing him to be that character, harem shenanigans included. Randy and Tio's interactions are still pretty top-tier regardless, as is Elie keeping Randy in check or Randy deflecting problems onto Lloyd much to his chagrin. All good stuff so far.
This scene in particular was pretty hilarious in chapter 2. This is the kind of chemistry I love in JRPGs. So good.
I'm playing in Japanese. Still pretty tiring either way, haha. If Crossbell is available in CS3 along with all of Erebonia, I may have to jump off a building. Oh god. Seriously, if the final game of this entire series makes the entire content visitable, that will be absolute insanity.
I thought the Lloyd and Randy bonding scene after the race was pretty good, actually. It made sense given what we know of these two characters so far: Lloyd having an older brother and Randy acting like the older brother figure in the group. And based on what's been revealed so far of Randy, I think it's pretty clear he's going to be the guy who carries his group through the situations where the stakes are high. Randy's just straight up cool so far, and I'm excited to learn more about him.
I don't have anything against Lloyd, though; I just don't like how the writing is framing him to be that character, harem shenanigans included. Randy and Tio's interactions are still pretty top-tier regardless, as is Elie keeping Randy in check or Randy deflecting problems onto Lloyd much to his chagrin. All good stuff so far.
This scene in particular was pretty hilarious in chapter 2. This is the kind of chemistry I love in JRPGs. So good.
Lloyd's casanova skills are going to make him the victim of a lot of jokes and he totally deserves it.
As for what you said about he giving those speeches and being that kind of character, I agree with you, that's what I felt too. However, at some point, he being how he is started to make sense and felt natural. Pretty much like the rest of plot points, it happened gradually for me at least.
What I'm trying to say is, for me he won the "grow-up, level-headed character" title during the course of the game.
I hope to hear your thoughts about it as you progress during the game.
It seems like there were two things going on: one issue made all of the original trilogy fail to load for me, which she patched last night. Something to do with .dlls from GOG Galaxy needing to be included. The second issue was only in SC, and it was having some issues with my adaptor, subsequently forgetting all my graphics settings every time I ran the game. She fixed that in a patch today.
So we're back in action now after a bit of a troubleshooting adventure! Thanks to Sara for engaging with it and getting it figured out so quickly.
Bringing cold steel to ps4 could be a totally great idea for exposing the series to a new audience, so I hope that it happens...
But I already own the first game twice, and I'll end up owning the sequel twice as well outside of some sudden change. Personally, I think I'm good.
A switch version would be tempting, but realistically I'd have to say no. YOU CAN'T MAKE ME BUY THE SAME GAME THREE TIMES FALCOM. I hope.
At this time, if the remaster would contain nothing more than resolution and performance upgrade, the only way I'd get interested in it is if they'd have a cool Collector's Edition containing all three games.
I just watched a few gameplay video of Zero Evo and wow, they really fucked the OST up. YMMV of course but the new rendition of the battle theme is awful imo.
I just watched a few gameplay video of Zero Evo and wow, they really fucked the OST up. YMMV of course but the new rendition of the battle theme is awful imo.
At least they did Merciless Savior justice, even if I still prefer the original.
It's telling that Falcom dropped almost all of the guest arrangers from SC Evo like a rock, only hiring two of them again (Mitsuo Singa and Shunsuke Minami) for 3rd Evo. And they dropped Minami after that. For some reason, though, they've hired Singa for every soundtrack since Tokyo Xanadu in September 2015, despite being responsible for stuff like this. His arrangements (or possibly uncredited original compositions - it's unclear) for Tokyo Xanadu and the original version of Ys VIII were underwhelming as well. At least his stuff for the PS4 version of Ys VIII was a significant improvement, as well as the Sen III trailer theme.
What's really baffling though is Singa's original compositions that can be found on his Soundcloud and the website of the freelance music production company he heads are consistently far better than his Falcom stuff from the same time period.
I remember when I first beat SC, and I was eager to check out all of the various official arranges of the soundtrack.
My romp through the SC evolution soundtrack started depressing and went downhill from there. TO ITS CREDIT, Aiming for the future at least tried something different (I find it hilarious if nothing else), so it gets the honorary title of "best-worst evolution track", but it's pretty telling of the soundtrack as a whole.
